PKEFACE. V 



attended. It is partially derived from his ex- 

 treme dexterity as an operator, with him we 

 have no chance of apologies for an unsuccessful 

 experiment, no hanging fire in the midst of a 

 series of brilliant demonstrations, producing 

 that depressing tendency akin to the pain felt 

 by an audience at a false note from a vocalist. 

 All is a sparkling stream of eloquence and 

 experimental illustration. We defy a chemist 

 who loves his science, no matter how often he 

 may himself have repeated an experiment, 

 to feel uninterested when seeing it done by 

 Faraday. 



The present publication presents one or two 

 points of interest. In the first place, the 

 Lectures were especially intended for young 

 persons, and are therefore as free as possible 

 from technicalities; and in the second place 

 they are printed as they were spoken, verbatim 

 et literatim. A careful and skilful reporter 

 took them down, and the manuscript, as de- 

 ciphered from his notes, was subsequently most 

 carefully corrected by the Editor as regards 



